Method of making shingle strips



June 9, 1936.

L. KIRS CHBRAUN METHOD OF MAKING SHINGLE STRII 'S Filed Dec. 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l BY KM MMW QWLA W ATTORNEY. Q

June 9, 1936. L. KIRSCHBRAUN METHOD OF MAKING SHINGLE STRIPS Filed Dec.

18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Rm x m m WMWM F% I m T ZN B Patented June 9, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE DIETHOD OF MAKING SHINGLE STRIPS Application December 18, 1931, Serial No. 581,843 V 13 Claims.

This invention relates to flexible shingle ele-" ments in which all the surfaces exposed to the weather have additional protection therefrom. My invention further relates to a novel method for coating and surfacing a sheet of flexible material whereby to produce my novel product.

In my co-pending application Serial No. 581,335, filed December 16, 1931, Ihave described and claimed roofing elements composedof a baseof asphalt saturated felted fibrous material with only thin bituminous coating and fine mesh surfacing material on the portion of the element to be covered when laid on a roof and with thicker coating and coarser surfacing material on that portion of the element exposed to the weather, including all exposed edges thereof.

The felt base is made of rag fibre and. is of such caliper that the weight thereof per 108 square feet (which is termed a factory square and is a basis of evaluating weight of this class of material) approximates eleven pounds. Asphalt having a melting point of to F. is employed as the saturant. The saturated sheet is coated on one. surface with a skin layer of 212- 225 F. melting point asphalt, such layer being from .010" to .017 in thickness. The other surface may be coated with a layer of. asphalt of approximately .003" to .005" in thickness. The sheet carrying the primary coating is then surfaced on one side with a layer of comminuted material, such as crushed slate, varying in fineness from such as will pass a screen of 28 mesh to such as will be retained on a screen of 100 mesh. The opposite side of the sheet carrying the thinner layer of coating is dusted with mica or talc.

The strips are slotted to form shingle-simulating tabs, if desired, and are then severed from the sheet and a second layer of coating is applied to each strip enveloping the upper and lower surfaces of that portion only of the strip that is exposed when laid on a roof or other structure, as well as exposed edges. This coating may be of a thickness ranging from .015" to .030". The portion of the strip that has been re-coated is then surfaced with comminuted material varying from that which will pass a screen of 8 mesh to that which will be retained on a screen of 35 mesh.

By distributing the coating and surfacing material as described, a shingle of superior wearing qualities can be produced at lower manufacuring cost, and because of the weight carried by the tabs of the strips as thus formed, they can be exposed to such an extent as to require a lesser number of units to cover a given area of roof surface. However, in the case of elements where the exposed portions are spaced by narrow cut-outs, a part of the thinly coated and fine mesh surfaced area is exposed beneath the slots of the superjacent course of shingles and consequently these thinly coated areas exposed through the slots are more susceptible to attack by the weather than the remaining exposed por tion of the shingle. 10

The present invention is designed to overcome this objection by providing additional protection at those portions of the strip which are exposed by the cut-outs of superjacent strips.

The article produced by my invention and the method of making it will be more fully understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which,-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of apparatus suitable for carrying out my invention. 20

Figure 2 is an elevational view of a pair of rolls for doctoringbands of coating on the sheet, looking in the direction indicated by dotted lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the rolls shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure '1, showing the hopper for feeding granular material to the bands of coating running longitudinally of the sheet.

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a fragment of the sheet after the coarse granular material has been deposited on the .bands of coating.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-8 of Figure 1 illustrating the hopper for depositing finegranular material over the entire surface of the sheet.

Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective of a fragment of the sheet after the fine granular material has been deposited thereon.

Figure 8 is a plan view showing successive stages in the production of the blanks to be subsequently finished by re-coating and re-surfacing the exposed areas thereof. 45

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a. finished strip.

Figure 10 illustrates the appearance of several finished elements of a slightly modified structure as laid in place. 50

Referring to Figure l, the numeral I indicates a sheet of felted fibrous material whichhas been saturated with asphalt. The numeral 2 indicates loopers over which the sheet passes from the saturating tank. From the loopers the sheet passes over an idle roll 3 and then under coating hopper 3 by which a coating of asphalt or of other suitable waterproofing material is deposited on the upper face of the sheet. The coated sheet then passes between a pair of rolls 4, 5. The roll 4 has spaced circumferential grooves 6 which doctor the asphaltic coating to form a series of spaced longitudinal bands H which are of greater thickness than the coating on the remainder of the sheet. The sheet is then conveyed by means of a belt conveyor 1 beneath a hopper 8 which has a series of spaced spouts 9. The spouts 9 deposit separate bands of coarse comminuted material on the several bands ofcoating H. The granular material fed at this point is preferably of a color contrasting with that which is to coverthe surface of the exposed tabs of the finished element and varies in size from that which passes a screen of 8 mesh to that which is retained on a screen of 35 mesh. The sheet is then conveyed beneath a hopper in which deposits on the entire upper face of the sheet fine granular material varying from such as will pass a screen of 28 mesh to such as will be retained on a screen of mesh. I

The sheet may then pass to any conventional apparatus such as a pair of press rolls 20 to embed the granular material in the coating on the surface of the sheet sufiiciently to be held firmly thereby. The sheet may then be slotted by slotting rolls 2| and severed into strip shingles by cutter rolls 22 in a manner well known in the art. The fine mesh granular material will adhere only to those portions of the sheet which have not been surfaced with coarse material, namely, the coated portions between thebands ll, so that the resulting surface will appear as shown in Figure '7. The bands, I I produced by the doctoring operation may be only slightly thicker than the coating layer between these bands, but in any case the thickness of these bands should be sufiicient to firmly hold the coarse grit with which they are surfaced. It should be understood that the coarser the granular material is, the thicker must be the coating to anchor the granular material efficiently. As shown in Figure 8, the elements having tabs separated by cut-outs I2 are cut transversely from the sheet in such manner that the cut-outs occur substantially midway between the bands II. The bands II are so placed and are of such width that when the elements are laid in staggered overlapping relation, the bands will underlie the cut-outs l2 of the superjacent elements and thereby provide a weather and wear-resistant surface for the areas exposed by the cut-outs. The strips as severed from the sheet may then be finished in any manner desired, for example, by immersing the butt portions of the strips in a' bath of molten asphalt. The strips are immersed to a line a short distance above the inner edges of the cut-outs, and then withdrawn. The coating on the back side and butt edge of each strip is preferably doctored to remove excess coating. The portion of the strip that has been recoated is then surfaced with comminuted material varying from that which will pass a screen of 8 mesh so that which will be retained on a screen of 35 mesh.

If desired, the secondary coating may be limited to the exposed face only of the butt portion of the shingle strip, together with the edges which will be exposed to the weather when the strip isle-id.

.same size as that on the bands H.

As shown in Figure 9, the finished element will have narrow bands ll of asphalt coating, surfaced with coarse'mesh granular material between the cut-outs and extending from the lower edge Hi to the upper edge of the strip. The surface l8 of the element extending from the lower edge l3 to a short distance above the upper edges i l of the cut-outs will be coated with a secondary layer of asphalt and surfaced with coarse granular material of substantially the All the exposed edges will also be coated with asphalt and surfaced with coarse mesh granular material. The body portion ll will be surfaced with fine granular material or may, as indicated at It in Figure 10, be simply covered with powdered mica or similar material to prevent the shingles from sticking together in the bundles during shipment or storage. The bands I l are preferably surfaced with granular material differing in color from that of the tabs but may, if desired, be of the same color. When laid on a roof or other structure, the superjacent elements will be staggered in relation to the subjacent elements, so that the bands is will occur beneath the cut-outs l2 as shown in Figure 10 and thereby provide adequate protection to these exposed areas, and at the same time, the

portions of the elements which are not exposed have a minimum amount of protective coating and surfacing so that the resulting elements are considerably lighter and more economical to produce than those which-are uniformly coated and surfaced.

In addition to making possible the re-distrie bution of coating and surfacing material in such a manner as to produce shingle strips of superior beauty and durability without substantially any increase in weight or cost thereof, the bands I 5 serve several other functions. It is customary to nail shingle strips to the substructure by driving nails through points immediately above the inner edges of the cut-outs. These nails also pass through the subjacent strip at points between the cut-outs thereof, a short distance from the top of the strip. It will be apparent that these nails will pass through the bands on the subjacent strips and since the band areas are thicker and stronger than the remaining upper portion of the strip, the likelihood of the strip tearing away from the nail is greatly diminished. Furthermore, the bands give added rigidity to the strips and effectively prevent flapping of the exposed portions in the wind.

It will be understood that while my presthan the coating on the remainder of the sheet,

ing elements when the elements are laid in overlapping courses.

2. The method of treating a sheet of asphalt saturated felted fibrous material, which comprises applying coating material to the sheet, forming some of said coating into bands of greater thickness than the coating on the remainder of the sheet, said bands extending longitudinally of the sheet, applying coarse granular material to said bands, and cutting the sheet into elements having tabs defined by narrow cut-outs, said bands covering those portions of the element which will be exposed beneath the cut-outs of overlying elements whenthe elements are laid in place.

3. The method of producing shingle elements, comprising applying a layer of asphalt coating to a sheet of saturated felted fibrous material, shaping said coating to form narrow spaced bands longitudinally of the sheet and of greater thickness than the coating on the remainder of the sheet, applying coarse comminuted material to said bands and fine comminuted material to the remainder of its surface, severing from the sheet elements having tabs defined by narrow cut-outs midway between successive bands, applying an additional coating of asphalt to the exposed portions of the elements severed from the sheet, and surfacing the additionally coated areas with coarse granular material.

4. The method of treating a sheet of asphaltsaturated felted fibrous material, which comprises applying coating material to the sheet, forming some of said coating into narrow spaced bands of greater thickness than the coating on the remainder of the sheet, said bands extending longitudinally of the sheet, applying coarse granular material to said bands only, cutting the sheet into elements having tabs defined by narrow cutouts located midway between successive bands, applying an additional coating of asphalt to the exposed portion of the elements cut from the sheet, and surfacing the additionally coated areas with coarse granular material.

5. The method of producing shingle strips, comprising applying to a coated face of a sheet of asphalt-saturated and coated felted fibrous material longitudinally extending uniformly spaced bands of coarse granular material, cutting in said sheet midway between said bands transverse rows of longitudinally extending slots of approximately the same width as said bands, severing the sheet transversely into strips having tabs defined by said slots, additionally coating the exposed portion of the cut strips including the exposed edges with asphalt, and applying a surface layer of coarse granular material to the additionally coated areas. v l

6. The method of producing strip shingles, which comprises coating a face of a sheet of asphalt-saturated felt with water-proofing material, shaping saidcoating to form parallel longitudinal bands of greater thickness than the rest of the coating, applying coarse granular material to cover said bands only, showering the entire coated face of the sheet with fine particles, cutting slots midway between each pair of successive bands, and chopping the sheet transversely to sever strip shingles therefrom.

7. The method of producing strip shingles, which comprises coating 9. face of a sheet of asphalt-saturated felt with water-proofing material, shaping said coating to form parallel spaced longitudinal bands of greater thickness than the rest of the coating, applying coarse granular material to cover said bands only, showerthe re-coated frontface with grit.

ing the entire coated face of the sheet with fine particles, cutting slots midway between each pair of successive bands, chopping the sheet transversely to sever strip shingles therefrom, applying a second water-proof coating to the exposed 5 face, and edges of the butt portion of each said strip shingle, and surfacing the second coating with coarse grit.

8. Steps in a method of producing strip shingles, which comprise applying a coat of molten waterproofing material to a face of a sheet of roofing felt, shaping the molten coating to form continuous longitudinal ridges spaced by broader areas of lesser thickness of said molten coating, thereafter covering the entire area with grit, and cutting the sheet transversely of said ridges to sever strip shingles therefrom in such a manner that the ridges extend from the upper to the lower edges thereof.

9. Steps in a method of producing roofing material, which comprise applying a coat of molten waterproofing material to a face of a sheet of roofing felt, shaping the molten coating to form continuous longitudinal bands of increased thickness spaced by broader areas of lesser thickness, the distance between the center lines of consecutive bands being equal to the width of a shingle, applying coarse grit ,to the surface of said bands only, showering fine grit over the whole coated surface of the sheet, and pressing said grit into adhesive contact with said coating.

10. Steps in a method of producing strip shingles, which comprise applying a coat of molten waterproofing material to a face of a sheet of roofing felt, shaping said molten coating to form continuous longitudinal ridges spacedby broad areas of lesser thickness of said molten coating, covering the entire shaped coating with grit, cutting the sheet transversely of the bands to sever strip shingles therefrom in such a manner that 40 the ridges extend from the upper to the lower edges thereof, applying a second coating of molten waterproofing material to the face and edge portions of each strip shingle which are to be exposed to the weather, and surfacing said sec- 0nd coating with grit.

11. Steps in a method of producing strip shingles, which comprise applying a coating of molten waterproofing material to a face of a sheet of roofing felt, shaping said coating to form 0011- tinuous longitudinal ridges spaced by broad areas of lesser thickness of said molten coating, applying coarse grit to said ridges only, cutting the sheet transversely of said bands to sever strip shingles therefrom in such a manner that the ridges extend from the upper to the lower edges thereof, applying a second coating of waterproofing material to the exposed portions only of the faces andedges of each strip, and covering said second coating with coarse grit.

12. Steps in a method of producing strip shingles, which comprise applyinggnolten asphaltic material to cover a face of a sheet of roofing felt, shaping the coating to form continuous longitudinal ridges spaced by broad areas of lesser 65 thickness of said molten coating, covering said bands with grit, cutting said sheet transversely of said ridges to sever strip shingles therefrom in such a manner that the ridges extendfrom the upper to the lower edges thereof, dipping the butt portion of each strip shingle into a bath of molten asphaltic-material, removing a substantial portion of the adherent molten material from the rear face of the shingle, and surfacing 4- aoeams 13. A method of producing shingle strips,'comprising applying to a coated face of a sheet of asphalt-saturated and coated felted fibrous material, narrow, uniformly spaced, longitudinal bands of coarse granular material, cutting transverse rows of slots in said sheet midway between and spaced from said bands, each said slot being parallel to said bands and having a length approximately equal to the width of the exposed portion of the finished shingle strip and a width approximately equal to that of one of said bands, and cutting the sheet transversely into strip shingles, each cut intersecting the slots of one 5 of said rows.

LESTER. ERSCI-ERAU'N. 

